Underemployment remains Canada’s biggest labour market challenge the president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) said, responding to Statistics Canada’s March 2014 Labour Force Survey.
OTTAWA
Underemployment remains Canada’s biggest labour market challenge the president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) said, responding to Statistics Canada’s March 2014 Labour Force Survey.
The official unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent in March but the rate of underemployment rate was much higher at 15.1 per cent, reports CLC.
Underemployment can be defined as the unmet need for paid employment. That can include part-time workers who want to work full-time, or people who have given up searching altogether. Neither group would be described by Statistics Canada as being unemployed, but they are underemployed, says the CLC.
Ken Georgetti of CLC says that 13.1 per cent of men and 15.8 per cent of women were underemployed in 2013. In the 15-to-24 age group, 27.8 per cent of workers were underemployed.
“Some politicians keep saying that we have replaced all of the jobs lost in the Great Recession following 2008. That is not true when you account for the growth in our labour force, and there is a real problem when you look at the kinds of jobs we are creating. There are far too many part-time, precarious and poorly-paid jobs out there,” said Georgetti.
Statistics Canada reported 42,900 net new jobs in March 2014 with gains mostly in the public sector, specifically health and social assistance. Agriculture lost 12,000 jobs and manufacturing lost 9,000 in March. However manufacturing is up over last March by 16,000, a growth rate of 0.9 per cent, close to the average job growth rate of 1.1 per cent.
It is important to note that the average monthly job gain over the past 12 months is still low, at 15,800, says CLC. As well, three quarters of the gains for March were part-time, and over the past 12 months one in three new jobs was part time. In March, Quebec gained 15,000 jobs during a period that coincided with an election call.
While young workers added 32,500 jobs in March, this didn’t keep up with the 35,400 new young workers who entered the labour force last month. The unemployment rate for young workers remained static at 13.6, and 47.7 per cent of young workers were employed part-time.
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